Cavs on a Roll with Suns on Tap

I'll be the first to say that I am very surprised by the Cavs recent play and surge in the Eastern Conference standings. I attribute the success to myself not criticizing their play in the last month. That and the play of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejao and of course LeBron James. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought I actually saw more than three different offensive plays out of the Cavs last night.

What has taken place during the Cavs 11-2 record over the last 13 games is pretty amazing considering where they were to start the season and at the quarter mark of the season. They are up to 4th in the Eastern Conference standings and completely crushed a Wizards team last night that is current 5th in the standings and who have given Cleveland fits over the last three years.

Varejao is making a difference. His play if much more under control compared to last year and he is quickly getting to a consistent double-double level night in and night out. Big Z may be having the best year of his career. Sure he has scored more in other seasons and even pulled down more boards, but from a flow perspective he is right in stride with what the offense has been trying to accomplish lately.

I'm back on the bandwagon and back in a big way. I'm seeing things that I have always hoped for during Lebron's time in Cleveland. Role players are finally starting to hit wide open shots. That's not to say that Hughes and Gooden don't get out of control still, but when wide open, the guys around Lebron are hitting their shots. Lebron will always draw three guys when the ball is in his hands, leaving at the least two perimeter shot opportunities. Over the last 13 games, the role players are delivering.

The team still has some holes, but like last year's holes, they can still make it to the Championship series the way they are. A point guard would be nice, as would another 3-point shooter, but this team can beat Boston and repeat as Eastern Conference champions. They beat Boston once this year and in the other head-to-head match-up in Boston, Lebron was on the mend.

Tomorrow's game at the Q against the visiting Suns will be a nice test to see where this team truly is at this point in the season. It's been a while since the Cavs topped the Suns and the Suns are a great regular season team coming off a horrible loss last night to the T-Wolves.

Here's an interesting stat on Lebron. He is shooting 48.2% from the field this year. That's better than all but two NBA teams this year. He has yet to shoot 30 times or more in a game this season. Considering Cleveland only shoots 43.5% as a team, would it be all bad if Lebron stepped it up to 35 shots a game?